Don't call it a 'ban': Leaf blowers headed back to Town Meeting

Thursday

Apr 25, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 25, 2013 at 11:04 AM

A year after a hotly debated proposal to ban, or at least partially ban, the use of leaf blowers came just 50 votes short of being enacted, residents will again have the chance to weigh in on the landscaping tool at this May’s Town Meeting.

William Dowd / marblehead@wickedlocal.com

A year after a hotly debated proposal to ban, or at least partially ban, the use of leaf blowers came just 50 votes short of being enacted, residents will again have the chance to weigh in on the landscaping tool at this May’s Town Meeting.

However, this year’s article has a few tweaks in language, namely taking out the word “ban,” which Marbleheader Beth Grader, a vocal proponent of limiting the device’s use, contribute to the defeat of last year’s proposal, suggesting to some that passing the article would have infringed upon people’s rights.

“We’ve used ‘fair use,’ so it is a difference in language,” said Grader. “But this time we’re asking to restrict use during three months out of the year.”

Article 40, one of three citizen petitions on the 2013 warrant, requests of Marblehead residents to enact a local statute governing gasoline-powered leaf blowers, limiting their use to April, May October and November in order to, in the words of the article, “curtail the serious public health risks that they pose.”

The article would essentially prohibit leaf blowers during summer when people are out and about and the weather remains hot and humid.

Other Massachusetts municipalities that have adopted leaf blower bans or limited their use include Brookline, Arlington and Cambridge. And more than 400 communities across the country have placed some restriction on leaf blowers, according to Grader, adding that Israel and

Hawaii have banned their use altogether.

Grader is also a member of Seaside CALM, a collaborative, grassroots effort among Swampscott, Salem and Marblehead residents who are concerned with leaf blowers’ impact on the quality of life in their communities.

On Monday evening, the group held an informational and working session in Swampscott High School’s auditorium, because, like Marblehead, Swampscott has a similar article on its 2013 Town Meeting warrant.

Grader said of the event’s purpose, “Tonight is all about educating people about the concerns we’ve developed and we’ve researched on leaf blowers and to make that information known.”

Loud noise may be the first thing people think of when health and leaf blowers are used in the same sentence, yet the group is trying to hone the community in on their new message.

“That message is, when you breathe, you take in air along with any particles in the air,” said Anne Eskensen, a member of Seaside CALM, led Monday’s session and walked community members through health risks associated with leaf blowers, which she believes are currently “below most people’s radar.”

According to Eskensen, leaf blowers disturb at-rest particles, some smaller than a grain of sand or hair follicle, including but not limited to animal feces, carbon monoxide, pollen and diesel soot, sending them into the air.

“We know better now that X-rays expose you to radiation. We know better now that seat belts save lives. We know better now that lead paint causes cancer,” said Eskesen, suggesting that leaf blowers be added to the list of items once thought to be safe but now banned or regulated.

Asked whether he knew of any studies directly linking leaf blowers to what’s in the air, Swampscott resident George Allan, a panelist whose vocation is to study airborne pollution, drew an analogy to secondhand smoke.

“We know that secondhand smoke, or smoking altogether, causes cancer. It’s just commonly known,” said Allan, suggesting that the same would apply to particles that get into the air via leaf blowers.

Steve Martin, owner of Marblehead’s Martin Landscaping owner, who has worked in the landscaping business for over 32 years, said he has “mixed feelings” about the article. He said he would try to get to Town Meeting to hear about the this year’s proposal but wouldn’t vote to invoke any ban or limit on leaf blowers.

He says that big, open spaces, parking lots and yards that his company maintains during summers are just too much work to get through without a leaf blower.

“It would be impossible, it would cause more time to be involved, and it wouldn’t be efficient,” he said.

He added, “They are necessary at times to some extent, and they are overused by some landscapers. We don’t use them all the time, and I’ve never had a noise complaint.”

Ultimately, he said, he provides what the customer wants. After all, his clients are hiring him to perform a service.

“If they request that I limit my leaf-blowing usage, I’ll only use it if necessary. If they request that I don’t use it, they know it will take more time to do work in their yard,” said Martin, adding that limiting leaf blowers would have an impact on his business because clients would have to spend more money on labor.